# A microfluidic blood-based test to monitor treatment response in glioblastoma

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $451,144

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The diagnosis and monitoring of patients with glioblastoma requires both surgery and magnetic resonance
imaging in complement. Surgery critically provides tissue for histological and molecular characterization and MRI
facilitates subsequent monitoring despite its limitation to differentiate between treatment response (radiation
necrosis) and failure (tumor recurrence). As a result, patients undergo an additional surgical procedure to obtain
tissue for molecular characterization, and to distinguish treatment response from failure requiring a change in
therapy. Given the morbidity associated with surgery, patients cannot undergo serial biopsies therefore a
minimally invasive test would provide real-time analysis and change our understanding and management of
glioblastoma. Our laboratory is the first to identify both circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and exosomes (EVs) in the
blood of patients with glioblastoma. In other cancers, CTCs and EVs have been independently captured,
characterized, and analyzed to provide real-time information of the patient's tumor burden and identifying new
mutations that confer resistance to therapy. Despite the blood brain barrier, EVs and CTCs are found in the blood
in high and low frequencies. Currently, no existing technology exists to simultaneously capture and monitor both
EVs and CTCs in patient blood. Thus, we propose the use of microfluidics to develop and validate our blood
based `liquid biopsy' to isolate both EVs and CTCs from a single tube of blood from patients with glioblastoma
at diagnosis and throughout treatment. We will also use standard techniques to evaluate ctDNA in parallel to
evaluate any additive benefit to our assay. Microfluidic processing of clinical samples is low cost and shows great
promise for translating `blood-on-a-chip' assays to the clinic. Our assay will allow for real-time molecular
characterization throughout therapy and potentially identify novel treatments or better match patients with
existing clinical trials. In addition, we aim to more accurately determine treatment response and inevitable
recurrence using next generation sequencing of CTCs, EVs and ctDNA from diagnosis onward; ultimately
establishing a minimally invasive test to diagnose, monitor, and detect recurrence in patients with glioblastoma.
The new 2016 WHO classification of brain tumors has added molecular markers to the pathological diagnosis of
glioblastoma which has traditionally required surgical tissue; we aim through our liquid biopsy to provide the first
molecular characterization and classification of brain tumors through a simple blood test in real-time. This will
dramatically advance our understanding and the care of patients with glioblastoma.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9994847
- **Project number:** 5R01CA226871-03
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Brian Vala Nahed
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $451,144
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-20 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9994847

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9994847, A microfluidic blood-based test to monitor treatment response in glioblastoma (5R01CA226871-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9994847. Licensed CC0.

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